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South Africa were denied the chance to secure a 3-0 clean sweep in their One-Day International series against India by the rain at SuperSport Park in Centurion.

AB de Villiers and Quinton de Kock both hit centuries as the Proteas recovered from a poor start to post 301 for eight from their 50 overs. The rain then arrived during the interval and, despite stopping on a couple of occasions, kept restarting and would persist for long enough for the umpires to decide that there was no prospect of India facing the required minimum of 20 overs in their run chase.

The hosts began the match by winning the toss for the first time in the series and electing to bat. They rested the trio of Jacques Kallis, Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel with an eye on the upcoming Test series, with Henry Davids, Wayne Parnell and Imran Tahir taking their places. India, meanwhile, welcomed back Yuvraj Singh at the expense of Ajinkya Rahane.

South Africa lost three early wickets, with the much-maligned Ishant Sharma accounting for both Henry Davids and JP Duminy in the eighth over to follow on from Mohammad Shami’s dismissal of the in-form Hashim Amla in the fifth.

That raised the prospect of South Africa being made to look complacent for leaving out three of their first choice eleven. However, de Kock carried on from where he left off in Johannesburg and Durban and was ably supported by his captain de Villiers during a mammoth fourth-wicket stand worth 171.

De Kock became the first player to score centuries in each match of a three-match ODI rubber when he brought up three figures, while de Villiers made it three different batsmen to hit hundreds in the series for the hosts.

De Kock fell to Sharma for 101 in the 38th over, but it didn’t look like stalling South Africa’s charge as de Villiers and David Miller added 53 in 34 balls. However, de Villiers’ departure to Umesh Yadav did create a slight wobble, but was unable to prevent them from passing 300. Ryan McLaren (6), Wayne Parnell (9) and Vernon Philander (0) all fell without contributing significantly, but Miller played a brilliant cameo from the other end and wound up on 56 off 34 balls, having clubbed five fours and three sixes.

Sharma was the pick of the Indian bowlers with four for 40 from his 10 overs, while Mohammad Shami again impressed, taking three wickets for the third time in the series. For once, the spin pair of R Ashwin (9-0-63-0) and Ravindra Jadeja (6-0-32-0) went wicket-less.

The tourists will now play a South African Invitational XI in a two-day game from 13th December ahead of the first of two Tests, which begins in Johannesburg on 18th December.